Monday, September 30, 2013

Eaton Vindicated — Many see a major setback for State Senator Martin Golden, which will have repercussions that will be felt for the remainder of Golden’s current term in the state senate

State Senator Golden threatens legal action against the Brooklyn GOP – Glenn Nocera, President of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club and Republican District Leader of the 44th AD holds a key piece of evidence for any lawsuit

[ First of Two Posts about the 2013 GOP County Convention ]

Earlier today, after a long and tortuous 2013 Convention of the Brooklyn Republican County Committee, incumbent Chairman Craig Eaton was declared the winner over another nominee, Timothy Cochrane, by a score of 442 votes to 330. After tallying all of the votes, both present and by proxy, Mr. Gerry O’Brien declared that the incumbent had again been re-elected as Chairman of the Brooklyn GOP. O’Brien had been duly appointed as temporary chairman to conduct the convention for the purpose of the election for Kings County Republican Party Chairman for 2013 through the primary of 2015. Attorney Aaron Maslow was also named as Counsel to the Chairman

According to reports from many of my Baker Street Irregulars, things were not nearly so simple as the numbers above indicate.

It should have been obvious from the beginning that those “Republicans for Change” supporting Marty Golden’s flavor of the month choice for Brooklyn Republican Chairman, Timothy Cochrane, were going to have major problems getting the bulk of their proxies to count for anything.

To start with, when it was getting close to the time for the cut-off of the submission of proxies to the credentials committee for review and certification, at about 10:00 AM Monday, none had been submitted by Golden’s “Republicans for Change.” It seems that the Golden-backed forces had turned over “all their proxies” to Party Secretary Diane Haslett Rudiano, who is aligned with the faction backing Cochrane, but she hadn't turned them over to the credentials committee in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, merely giving proxies to Diane Rudiano isn’t the sufficient, necessary and proper procedure to submit proxies for review and certification by the credentials committee. After several bitter recriminations, the credentials committee and the temporary chairman of the convention agreed to accept the late-submitted proxies held by Ms. Rudiano. That wasn’t the end of it.

Several additional proxies were brought directly into the convention hall by Marty Golden operatives that had never been turned over to Rudiano. Several members of the credentials committee said that the newly turned in proxies were late and not within the concession and ruling about accepting the submission of the proxies held by the Party Secretary. In spite of the clear distinction between the categories of late-submitted proxies, the chair and the committee agreed to accept them for review as well.

It took hours for the credentials committee to go over the proxies that had been brought in at the 11th hour by the “Republicans for Change.” However, it soon became obvious that the Golden faction was trying to slip in almost 250 invalid proxies. Ultimately, about 220 to 230 proxies submitted by the Golden forces were ruled invalid by the credentials committee. (According to a comment below, "over 200 Golden proxies were invalidated because they predated the convention notice." In addition, those proxies apparently were largely executed before the County Committee members had been certified by the Board of Elections [Information added on 10/1/13 after initial posting]).

When the final vote on Eaton and Cochrane was being taken, it looked to many of those counting votes that Cochrane was apparently ahead in the count of about 330 to 323 for Eaton, however there remained a block of about 100 votes being held back by Lucretia Regina-Potter of the LaGuardia Club, by passing on its turn in the final vote. When the votes from the LaGuardia Club were cast for Craig Eaton, a former nemesis of that club, everybody in the hall knew that his election was locked in.

What had often been an indecorous gathering broke down into several shouts and threats of all manner and description ( Including threats of a lawsuit by State Senator Martin Golden, himself [Information added on 10/1/13 after initial posting]). Much of that action was recorded on a video-cam by Glenn Nocera.

When things calmed somewhat, Gerry O’Brien the temporary chairman of the convention returned the Chairmanship of the Brooklyn GOP to Craig Eaton as the duly elected Chairman of the Kings County Republican Party.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

It's news when a Democrat office holder makes calls for one of the sides in a Republican fight at an upcoming Republican event --- No, it wasn't Vinny Gentile --- No, it wasn't Dominic Recchia --- No, not Lew Fidler, either or DA Joe Hynes who's running on the GOP and Conservative Party lines --- Enough already, it WAS Democrat State Senator Simcha Felder !

There is a bit of a buzz among Orthodox Jews, Republicans and not Republicans, that at least a few Orthodox Rabbis were called by Democrat State Senator Simcha Felder to speak to a few Orthodox Jewish Republicans to urge them and any other GOP County Committee members they might know to vote for State Senator Golden's chosen leadership candidate, Timothy ( the source wasn't certain of the last name).

In a recent post, I called on the 2013 GOP City Council Candidates to come to the Brooklyn GOP County Convention and tell everybody gathered how this year's GOP organizational fight has torpedoed any real chance they had to win their constests for City Council seats --- I doubt that you'll be hearing any such thing from them tomorrow --- Here are some of the reasons why

John Quaglione has had an uphill slog in his 2013 run for City Council from the very beginning. First is the fact that he is up against a popular neighborhood guy, Vinny G, who keeps winning re-election after re-election by bigger and bigger margins; second, from day one he has been carrying a burden of being a staff member for an already-elected official ( because of obvious conflicts, Brooklyn GOP rules should prohibit such dual identity-double-liability candidacies unless the staff member agrees to resign their staff positions prior to petitioning); third, in the early going the pesky candidacy of Hard Hat Andy Sullivan garnered as much media interest as did the Quaglione race; and fourth, since early summer the Quaglione campaign has run a virtual stealth effort, being at best an afterthought at various political gatherings for other candidates or a rump caucus trying to oust the current GOP leadership. It would appear that John Q will either appear at the GOP County convention clearly alligned with the Golden-Cochrane faction or pass on the Brooklyn GOP's biggest political gathering of this election cycle. Either way it'll be bad for John Q insider (anything but "Public"); he'd be well advised to give it all a pass tomorrow and hope for the best.
The story is not much better for David Storobin and Anthony Testeverde.
Many believe that David Storbin has the best shot of winning among all the GOP City Council candidates running in Brooklyn. However, the split in the Brooklyn GOP will deprive him of even the semblance the unified campaign that won him the special state senate election early in 2012. A clear split in his support for the general election, losing the support of the NYS Senate Majority Leader and the endorsement of the Conservative Party in a recut senate district showed that he was not even competitive without that unified support along with the Organization Republicans. Storobin's apparent shift to the Golden camp in 2013 will not garner any help from the establichment Republicans who helped him in 2012 for his run in November 2013. In addition, there has been a minimum of fundraising for this Council race compared to what was generated for the special in 2012. If he makes an appearance at the GOP County Convention , David Storobin will need to show his allegience to the Golden-Republicans for Change faction; thus far, it is only from that group that anybody came out and helped Storobin's 2013 run for the Council. Regardless of who wins the County Leadership on Monday, it is unlikely that anybody backing Eaton would do the same for Storobin in November 2013. In any case, Storobin can't really help himself in any way by showing up at the 2013 GOP County Convention.
Anthony Testeverde is the oddest choice of all the candidates running for City Council this year. In fact, he is the oddest GOP choice to run for the City Council in Brooklyn since George Smith, AT's longtime friend, who was selected to run several years ago by Mr. T, himself. Like John Q, above, Testeverde is a member of the staff of State Senator Martin Golden; and he must bear the same cross on his shoulders, except he suffers from the additional conflict of interest, that of being a Republican Party State Committeeman/District Leader (the Brooklyn GOP should have an additional rule that no State Committee person can serve on the staff of any elected official, because of the inherant conflict). If he presents himself at the convention, he'll be a source of embarrassment to himself and his boss, State Senator Martin Golden. He will open himself and Golden to questions about what had been done by Golden's Office to get certain contracts and/or concessions from the City for the abovementioned George Smith, a convicted criminal with additional charges pending several years ago.
Both Hardhat Andy Sullivan and Joseph Hayon are real "Wild Card" mavericks. They both will probably be supporting the incumbent County Leader Craig Eaton. Neither expects much from the Golden crowd and they also don't hold the Golden staff in very high regard. They could show up and benefit from openly showing their support for Eaton's re-election.

"Early Sunday morning, the House was poised to approve a bill to keep the government open past midnight Monday. But under pressure from Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and other GOP hard-liners, the House amended the bill to include a one-year delay of the health law’s mandates, taxes and benefits — guaranteeing a stalemate with the Democratic Senate. The vote was 231 to 192." -- Washington Post, 9/29/13

Don't buy-in to the MSM BS --- There is much fairer reporting on conservative leaning blogs like "The Daily Caller" (See some of what I mean below in this post.)

According to an early Sunday AM report in the Daily Caller by Alexis Levinson, "With less than two days left to avoid a government shutdown, the House voted late Saturday night to fund the government — while delaying Obamacare for one year and repealing the medical device tax." This House bill is that chamber's second try at averting the so-called "government shutdown." On Friday, the U.S. Senate had rejected the House of Representatives' first version of the bill by stripping out the provision that defunded Obamacare. It is widely believed that, if the two houses of Congress cannot come to an agreement, a government shut down will occur on Tuesday (See "House votes to fund government, delay Obamacare, repeal medical device tax" by Alexis Levinson, 9/29/13, The Daily Caller [http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/29/house-votes-to-fund-government-delay-obamacare-repeal-medical-device-tax/]).The votes on the parts of the bill were reported in the Daily Caller, as follows: "Voting late Saturday night and into Sunday morning, the House voted 231-192 in favor of a one year delay of Obamacare. They voted to repeal the medical device tax by a vote of 248-174, with 17 Democrats voting yes. *** The House also voted unanimously for a bill that would ensure that military personnel continue to get paid in the event of a government shutdown."According to the same coverage by Daily caller's Alexis Levinson, House Speaker John Boehner made this statement after the vote, “The House has again passed a plan that reflects the American people’s desire to keep the government running and stop the president’s health care law.... Now that the House has again acted, it’s up to the Senate to pass this bill without delay to stop a government shutdown.... Let’s get this done.”To be expected, Democrats reacted as if they had never seen anything like this in the reported history of the world. In short, they acted like a bunch of weenies, doing a fast burn, crackling and popping off over a hot fire -- or like a bunch clones of their former colleague, Anthony Weiner.

According to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, “To be absolutely clear, the Senate will reject both the one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act and the repeal of the medical device tax...." That is a very vexing position for him and the rest of the Democrats to take, because earlier this year, the Senate had voted 79-20 in favor of repealing that very tax in a vote that was largely symbolic to convey the sentiment of all the Senators on that issue.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Two completely different sources have given me two completely different leads about Marty Golden's recent telephone habits

Many of you probably saw my mention of Marty's trashing Craig Eaton in direct live calls to many elected members of the Kings County Republican County Committee. Now a key Democratic Bay Ridge operative took a moment out of his/her busy day to let me know that a telephone "whisper campaign" for DA Hynes directly tied to Marty Golden is being pushed forward even though Hynes doesn't really want any part of it. What weaves these to leads together is that my Democrat source says that some of these "whisper calls" for Hynes are already being made by State Senator Golden.

I have a logical explanation for all this. Obviously, somebodies' lines are crossed; or more accurately, somebody's or somebodies' signals are crossed.

Golden is making calls relative to the upcoming GOP County Convention -- that's been confirmed three or four ways to Sunday -- "blah, blah, blah Eaton; blah, blah, blah Brooklyn Republican Party; blah, blah, blah candidates, petitioning, weak, strong, on or off the ballot.... (Get the picture?).

At the same time the Hynes' DA campaign on the GOP-Conservative lines gets floated and crashes like the Hiddenberg -- it's all Marty Golden's baby -- and that's been confirmed three or four ways to Sunday. But, for some reason, Golden is obsessed with this Hynes DA thing, or the fact that there is going to be a new Brooklyn DA, who isn't as friendly with Golden as Hynes was.... (So, the stage is set, get it ?)

Marty G probably isn't doing his calls off of a script (or if there is one, what are the chances that he is sticking to it ?); and we all know what a discursive speaker State Senator Golden can be. So, in the middle of his "blah, blah, blah Eaton; blah, blah, blah Brooklyn Republican Party; blah, blah, blah candidates..." he might mention Hynes and his race on the GOP line in November -- it's not a blunder, it's not even a mistake. But, most of all it's not a whisper campaign.

Now, I know that somebody out there will say, "Gale, why can't it be both?"

To that I would answer, the classic old "whisper campaign" contains something that is inflammatory -- so far, there has been no suggestion of that in connection with the Hynes' campaign on the GOP and Conservative lines. Of course, if somebody can give me a solid example of that, it could change my mind about this whole thing.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Staten Island's and West Brooklyn's Michael Grimm and Nassau's Peter King went out of their way on an ultra-liberal program to attack a conservative Republican, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, in his heroic effort to defund ObamacareIs Mike Long okay with all that ? --- If not, what's he going to do about it ?

On the "Hardball With Chris Matthews" show earlier tonight, RINO Congressman Peter King called Republican Senator Ted Cruz "a holier than thou fraud," a liar and "a carnival barker." After more really obnoxious slander against the Republican from Texas, RINO King said that Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid was in a tough spot. Then, it was a so-called Republican from Long Island, Peter King, that exhorted, "we have to stand up and and say we have had enough of this guy [Cruz]." (See "Carnival Cruz" 9/26/13, Hardball with Chris Matthews [http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3036697/ns/msnbc-hardball_with_chris_matthews/vp/53116793#53116793]).

The most despicable thing that King did was to give silent assent to a Chris Matthews rant that Ted Cruz was a demagogue that was going to crash and burn like the staunch anti-Communist crusader, Joseph McCarthy.

A few days earlier, a haughty and self-serving Mike Grimm appeared on the 9/23/13 "Hardball with Chris Matthews" show to say that Ted Cruz was cowardly and dishonest with the American people and that Cruz' rhetoric about defunding Obamacare needed to stop ( See "Deconstructing Ted Cruz" 9/23/13, Hardball with Chris Matthews [http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3036697/ns/msnbc-hardball_with_chris_matthews/vp/53089095#53089095]). Later in the session with Chris Matthews, Grimm said that he had many conservative principles, but that the far right is not constructive, and at the end of the day he had to get things done for the people whom he represents. Interestingly, in 2010 when first running for office Grimm was full-throated in his praise of the TEA Party and its principles, now he's clearly distancing himself from that caucus in congress; if it's not yet a divorce in all respects, then it certainly involves Grimm's abandonment of key TEA Party principles and values.

In addition, by joining Grimm with a former GOP Presidential campaign consultant Steve Schmidt, who had the nerve to cite Ronald Reagan, Matthews was able to get two Republicans to viciously attack the one man above others who is now leading the fight for the GOP against Obamacare.

Other than appearing on Chris Matthews' show to attack Ted Cruz and being among the very few Republican-Conservatives elected to Congress in the NYC Metropolitan area, what do King and Grimm have in common ? They are both very close to and strongly supported by NYS Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long.

Well, what does Mike Long think of these RINO-sounding guys and their anti-conservative noises in their recent appearances with Matthews? Who knows, maybe, Mike agrees with what they had to say about Cruz, and his standing up to stop Obamacare. We won't know until he says.

State Committee Members Proposed by Eaton were approved by GOP State Committee over objection of a few Brooklyn State Committee Members affiliated with Marty Golden's "Republicans for Change" faction GOP Chairman Craig Eaton runs on a record of almost unprecedented electoral successes in pre-convention mailing to County Convention Delegates

After a longtime member of the Republican State Committee from a hollow GOP district on the Brooklyn-Queens border had risen to disrupt normal procedure and object to the replacement State Committee members to fill the seats still-open after the 2013 Petition-Primary process, the State Committee Counsel attempted to steer NYS Chairman Ed Cox against a ruling to seat the Eaton-proposed replacement committee members. Chairman Cox then made two key rulings: first, that NYS Republican State Committee Counsel Jeffrey Buley had to stand down, because he had previously had a hand in legal proceedings to remove some of the replacement State Committee Members proposed by Chairman Eaton; second, he favored the Eaton slate to be seated as members of the State Committee from Kings County. As a result, the new State Committee Members will serve as Distrcit Leaders in the previously vacant districts through September of 2015.

Meanwhile, back in Brooklyn, most delegates had received a mailing on Monday or Tuesday with an envelope emblazoned with a flashy sidebar that culminated in this "It was the biggest Republican upset in decades . . . Democrats lost a Brooklyn congressional seat they had controlled for an entire century . . ." That mailing was touting the performance and accomplishments of the incumbent Kings County Chairman Craig Eaton.

The most important component of the pro-Eaton mailing was a detailed letter of endorsement from former Brooklyn-Queens Congressman Bob Turner. Among other favorable comments about Mr. Eaton, Turner made this important point about the impact of Craig Eaton's leadership:
"...What you don’t know is that the man responsible for me becoming the Republican candidate for Congress in that special election was Brooklyn’s Republican Chairman -- and your neighbor -- Craig Eaton. *** Craig Eaton was the first person to suggest I should run. He fought for me, when other party leaders were talking about running other candidates, because they didn’t think we could win..."
That letter was accompanied by an Eaton palm card whose main pitch was the following: "Brooklyn’s most successful GOP Chairman in half a century needs your vote at the County Convention to continue our winning streak..."

The card also identified and characterized the menacing force faced by Chairman Eaton and all "Brooklyn Republicans" like this: "At the upcoming County Convention, Craig is being challenged by those who opposed his reforms, and who want to turn back the clock, and keep local Republicans ﬁxated on a single section of our borough. That’s wrong, and it’s what has kept Republicans from winning for so many decades...."

Long's second rebuff of Marty Golden in as many days is nothing but a "Trip to the Woodshed" plain and simple -- What did Marty do to piss Mike off so bad? -- OR -- Maybe Golden is just the whipping boy for YKW, and Mike Long is really shepherding his own flock of Conservative Party crazies in Brooklyn

As I mentioned in my Comment yesterday [9/23/13 ], " UPDATE: OH! HAVE I HEARD THIS SONG BEFORE EDITION" to my own post, "Something the whole Brooklyn GOP can get behind — Elect Joe Hynes [mostly] on the Republican line — Somebody Shout 'HOOOO-RAH !' " the Brooklyn Eagle quoted Mike Long as making this seemingly nonsensical remark about trying to go forward with the Hynes race for DA on the Conservative and Republican lines in Brooklyn: "“[Hynes] clearly could possibly be in a position to win if he campaigned.... only 22 percent of Democrats voted in the Democratic Primary.... If he got 35 percent of Democrats and Conservative and Republican voters, he could win.... He certainly would have an uphill battle. It would be a tough road for him....” At the time I casually remarked that something was "all wrong" with Mike Long's math, and that Long must have been using the terms "uphill" and "tough" when he really means "impossible."

Mike Long sometimes can be cryptic, but usually he's pretty "on message" when it comes to the family business -- power politics and his Conservative Party. Either Mike Long has gone dotty and can't add anymore, or he's trying to make a few points at somebody's expense. In this instance, it clearly looks like the latter.

If we used Mike Long's projection in the Brooklyn Eagle article of Hynes' holding 35% of the Democratic line vote with the actual numbers for the last Brooklyn DA race of 2009, you would see that Hynes can't win on the Republican and Conservative lines. In November 2009, Hynes had a total of 182,597 votes on the Democratic line, 43,324 on the Republican line and 7,700 on the Conservative Party line. If Hynes carried 35% of his Democrat total over to his Republican and Conservative total of 51 ,024 votes and added that 35%, or 63,909 votes, the Hynes total would be 114,933 votes. That would still be 3755 votes less than the 65% of the remaining Democratic vote, which would be 118,688 votes. But that is a deceptively close number, because Joe Hynes also got 16,064 votes on the Working Families Line, which made Hynes' 2009 non-Republican and non-Conservative total even higher at 198,661. Even giving Hynes the benefit of 35% of that larger total only puts him further behind.

Until yesterday it was beginning to look like State Senator Martin Golden and Conservative State Chairman Michael Long were the only key players behind the push for incumbent Brooklyn DA Charles "Joe" Hynes to go all out for re-election on the Republican and Conservative lines. That together with the fact that none of Hynes' Democrat-insider friends are lifting a finger to help, started to make me wonder if this Republican-Conservative DA campaign has anything behind it. Now, with Conservative Party Chairman Long's remarks to the Eagle, just make that Marty Golden as THE ONLY man behind that effort (btw, that's also what Hynes' insider Dennis Quirk had said in an earlier article -- something like "Ask Marty Golden, its all his idea...").

Mike Long's description of how a Republican-Conservative run for Hynes might turn out was intended as a clear message to somebody ( or maybe everybody ) --- THIS CAN'T WORK.

It's interesting that at about the same time, Chairman Long also cracked the whip, mostly at GOP-Conservative State Senators, about the vote on the Cuomo anti-gun "S.A.F.E. Act." That was a nifty back of the hand to Brooklyn's Republican State Senator, who had gotten right into line behind Governor C. The language "open the door" and "primary" clearly wasn't an accident by Mike Long either, since everybody knows that Golden's attack on Brooklyn GOP Leader Eaton this year will probably be cause for a Brooklyn GOP State Senate primary next year.

Even more interesting is that this is all happening in the last few days before Golden's big push in his gambit to try to take over the 2013 GOP County Convention and control of the Brooklyn GOP. Now, it's all happening so quickly, I'm losing count --- Was that three sharp wacks by Long on Golden's ass or just two?

According to reports in the New York Law Journal and the Politicker blog, Brooklyn DA Charles "Joe" Hynes will not actively campaign or be participating in any Republican or Conservative Party Campaign for his re-election as Brooklyn DA in November (See "EXITING STAGE RIGHT - Charles Hynes Reportedly Conceding General Election" by Colin Campbell, 3/24/13, NY Observer/Politicker [http://politicker.com/2013/09/charles-hynes-reportedly-conceding-general-election/]).

Colin Campbell put it this way, "Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes is apparently hanging up his spurs. *** The New York Law Journal reported today that Mr. Hynes will not contest his re-election after losing the Democratic primary. *** Though Mr. Hynes had initially conceded to challenger Ken Thompson after losing the Democratic vote earlier this month, multiple reports surfaced indicating that he was reconsidering his options, which included the possibility of campaigning on the Republican and Conservative lines. *** But, after 24 years in the district attorney’s office, Mr. Hynes told the Law Journal he won’t campaign for the November election. He said he was 'flattered people are trying to persuade me, but they’ve been unpersuasive' and his decision was 'very firm'....”

This leaves Marty Golden all alone trying to lead the Brooklyn Republican Party in a November Campaign that nobody else cares about anymore --- WHAT A LEADER !!! (Note: EATON CAPS)

Monday, September 23, 2013

With all votes tallied, the official results provided by the New York City Board of Elections show that 46th Assembly District Republican State Committee candidates Marcus Aurelius Nussbaum and Lucretia Regina-Potter have been victorious in Brooklyn's only hotly contested Republican leadership race --- This a turnover over of the two key State Committee spots formerly held by Golden and Grimm insiders, Simon Shamoun and Clorinda Annarummo

Nussbaum and Potter were able to withstand everything that came their way. In spite of opposition that included endorsement material for their opponents from Joe Lhota, Marty Golden, Michael Grimm, and negative attacks including everything but the kitchen sink, Lucretia Regina-Potter and Marcus Nussbaum were elected the new Republican District Leaders of the new 46th AD -- in essence defeating the long-time entrenched local establishment. The attacks on Potter and Nussbaum included literature that was mailed all over the district, live telephone banks and robo-calls, and a virtual laundry list of endorsements for the defeated exhausted Republican old guard, whose bedrock strength turned out to be localized in only a small part of the former 46th AD.

The Nussbaum-Sarta race was close and very hard-fought; and although the Potter-Annarummo contest was equally hard-fought, the outcome was not nearly as close as both sides and most outside observers had expected.

According to her post-election statements, when she was asked why she thought she was able to defeat her opposite number from the Seergy Club and State Senator Golden's "Republicans for Change," Lucretia Regina-Potter's answer was simple, “Their plan of attack back-fired on them. Republican voters in the 46 AD are smarter than our opponents thought. They realized that our opponents were only interested in perpetuating their 'divide and conquer' strategy that has so badly damaged our Republican Party in Brooklyn. What Marcus and I want to do is to rebuild our beleaguered Republican Party and bring it back to the times when it was possible to elect good Republican public officials and everyone worked united towards such an objective.”

Throughout the 2013 primary election process, Nussbaum and Potter ran as the 46th AD Leadership Candidates endorsed by Dr. Arnaldo A. Ferraro's Fiorello LaGuardia Republican Organization of Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Bath Beach Brooklyn and several community groups in the Brighton Beach and Coney Island part of the 46th AD. Some time before primary day, GOP County Chairman Craig Eaton and the Kings County Republican Party adopted them as the Republican Party endorsed candidates for Leadership and State Committee spots for the 46th AD against the 46th incumbent Clorinda Annarummu and her newcomer running-mate Dominic Sarta. That pitted the Eaton cadres against those of State Senator Golden in several key Bay Ridge EDs.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Maybe, the GOP Candidates for City Council -- Quaglione, Sullivan, Storobin, Testaverde and Hayon -- have been placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program

Let the Council Candidates Speak at the Convention About the Kinds of Council Campaigns that have been Run in 2013

Sometime back in June, various GOP factions petitioned on behalf of a handful of City Council candidates. Thanks to a variety of efforts, those candidates made it onto the ballot. Since that time what has happened to these poor souls. Are they on the roadside somewhere buried in shallow unmarked graves ?

How are candidates for seats that have been long held by Democrats supposed to pull upsets when their underfunded campaigns are held in check until some time that will be less than two months before the general election ?

The reality is that in 2013 much less has been done for each and every GOP candidate for the council between their selection June and the November election than would be normal in a typical municipal election year. Instead of pursuing any kind of ACTIVE early summer or late summer campaign, the combined GOP operation in Brooklyn (all sides in the current split) has allowed most of the clock to wind down on its candidates without most of their making any substantial headway against their Democratic opponents or improving their standing in the communities where they are running.

With a full-scale mayoral primary going full blast around Brooklyn, the GOP City Council candidates should have been featured players along with their allied mayoral candidates -- or if deftly maneuvered, with both of the major candidates, Lhota and Catsimatidis. If anything like that did happen, then it was like the unheard tree falling in the uninhabited forest -- it made no audible noise or any other impression on the people who count -- THE VOTING PUBLIC. (However, I must admit that before the GOP mayoral primary, it was fun playing "Where's Waldo?" with the photos of GOP mayoral candidates to see if one could spot a Testeverde, Sullivan, Storobin or Quaglione in the backrows of people around the main characters or, if in the front row, half-cropped out of the shot.)

It's been told to me by one of the council candidates that at least three out of the five guys running for council and mentioned in this post are angry and upset that they have been left to hang out to dry by the combined GOP operation in Brooklyn (all sides in the current split). One or two are particularly annoyed by the very faction that solicited and obtained their support and cooperation, and then completely back-burnered any effort for or on behalf of the cooperating council candidate.

How about letting the GOP City Council Candidates, Andy Sullivan, Anthony Testeverde, David Storobin, Joseph Hayon, and John Quaglione, speak at the GOP County Convention and tell the delegates what the combined GOP operation in Brooklyn (all sides in the current split) have done for their various campaigns. There should be enough mud hitting the fan that everybody on all sides will have some spatter on them.

In spite of all that, somebody then needs to stand up at the convention and proclaim that 100% of the blame for what has happened to the Republican Council Candidates should fall on State Senator Martin Golden and his wholly owned subsidiary "Republicans for Change".... It was clearly foretold, on this blog and elsewhere, that any full-scale organizational fight inside the Brooklyn GOP in this election cycle would blow up the 2013 Republican campaigns for City Council everywhere in Brooklyn. In a perfect world, the person standing up and making that speech would be John Quaglione, the biggest victim in all of this. That won't happen, of course, either because he still doesn't see it; or, more likely, because he lives in a very constrained environment, he just can't tell what he really knows.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

During the next week, members of the Kings County Republican County Committee should be getting mail, personal phone calls, robo-calls and emails telling them how they should fulfill their duties as GOP County Committee Members --- Craig Eaton's Republican County Organization has already sent out at least one such mailing; and if you are a GOP CC Member you should have received it by now...

The first pro-Eaton piece of mail is from "Brooklyn Republicans" It asked and answered three important questions:
• What is the County Convention?
• Who are we electing?
• What do I need to know?
Needless to say it contained a very effective soft-sell on behalf of the current GOP County Chairman, along with a warning for County Committee Members not to be hoodwinked into giving away their valuable vote by way of a proxy.

Obviously, there is more to come from "both sides" and possibly even a third or fourth side, since this is a game everybody can play.

At least one part of one new piece of mail should "...harken you back to the days of yesteryear ...and the adventures of the Lone Ranger...." Could it be a rousing Rossini overture borrowed from "William Tell" ?(Not likely, this will be a piece of mail not a robo-call, but save that thought for the robo-call edition.) Could it be the famous heroic shout, "Hi-Ho, Silver ! Away!" ? Could it be a guest appearance of that actor Jay Silverheels, who played Tonto on the 1950s TV series and lived not far from Bishop Kearney HS in Brooklyn ? ( Not likely, he died in 1980.) OR Could it be the answer to the show's weekly closing enigma, "Who was that masked man ?" Sorry, I can't say right now; I'm sworn to secrecy and I've said too much already.....

Keep your eyes and ears open, it should be an interesting week or nine days.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

--- Linda Ellerby

The Appellate Division for the Second Department affirmed the trial decision of Hon. David Schmidt that gave a lot to Hayon and a little to Greenfield in their cases back and forth over the ballot for the 44th Council District. The AppDiv's decision was a legalistic version of "Forget it with your legalistic arguments, get out of here...." It specifically agreed that Joseph Hayon was not given adequate notice by the BOE that he needed to make certain specific corrections to his cover sheet. As a result Hayon's place on the ballot as the Republican candidate is all but assured. Similarly, David Greenfield will maintain his position of advantage by running as the candidate of the Democratic, Conservative and Independence Parties in the November elections.

Don't forget where deBlasio's numbers were two months before the Democrat Primary

Wait until Lhota puts up those ads with his son in a full 'Fro hair deal --- it'll be better than a revival of "Hair" and "Two Gentlemen of Verona" (the musical) in the same season --- now that would be Koch Brothers' money well spent....

Republicans and Conservatives shouldn't fret. Lhota probably won't lose this by three to one (3x1) come election day. I'm sure it will be closer to two to one (2x1).

The real problem is that early polls and money do come to the party hand in hand....

Monday, September 16, 2013

Regardless how the Brooklyn GOP Convention turns out — Whether it re-elects Craig Eaton as the Kings County Republican Party Chairman, whether Tim Cochrane gets the nod or whether it goes for somebody new that Marty Golden has been mentioning — the Brooklyn GOP will be a shambles going forward to the November General Election — However, there is one candidate running in a key race that all of the Republican factions are already backing, it's Charles “Joe” Hynes, seeking re-election as the Kings County District Attorney on the Republican and Conservative lines

If Hynes can generate the “Fire In His Belly” — he could make this his successful “Last Hurrah” instead of the "Prufrock version" that he’s playing out right now.

I was doing research on what Mike Long and the Conservative Party was doing, along with Marty Golden and the RFC, vis a vis Republican candidates running in the General Elections of 2013. Of course, there were several news items and articles about the Republican Mayoral Primary winner Joseph Lhota; and oddly, there were very few about people like City Council candidates John Quaglione and Andrew Sullivan. What jumped out was that there were one or two, maybe even three or four, about Joe Hynes, the incumbent DA now principally running on the GOP line after his Democratic Party Primary loss to Kenneth Thompson.

Originally, I had hoped to find material to bash the Goldens and RFCers, and even Mike Long and Jerry Kassar; but instead, what I found was something more valuable. It was something with which I could agree and even get behind for the 2013 General Election. Oh, irony of ironies ! — Calling for a unified effort along with a bunch of guys that I .... [maybe, some other time] behind the sole remaining re-election campaign of a reluctant Joe Hynes.......

Rather than take you article by article through who said what and why, Mike Long and State Senator Golden seem solidly behind Hynes. If you want more details do your own search of recent NY Post articles and also something called “Voz Iz Neias”. All I have to say right now is that I think this is something that all Brooklyn Republicans and Conservatives need to get behind; and Lhota’s campaign needs to do it as well. My reasons are right below.

First, even though Hynes has not been a perfect DA in Kings County, he was better than his immediate predecessors, Elizabeth Holtzman and Eugene Gold. Second, the winner of the Democrat Primary, Kenneth Thompson, is coming in with a very liberal – even radical – agenda. Third, Hynes’ combined terms as Brooklyn’s prosecutor are contemporaneous with, not only a drop in all categories of major crimes, but also with, a generally improved quality of life throughout all of Brooklyn. Fourth, and most important to my blogging persona here on “...Brooklyn .. Fountainhead,” as the numbers below strongly suggest — HYNES CAN WIN THIS ELECTION MOSTLY ON THE REPUBLICAN LINE COUNTY-WIDE.

The math is not that bad for incumbent DA Hynes running on the Conservative and Republican lines in November 2013. Take a quick look at the 2009 mayoral race for results in Brooklyn:

Bill Thompson - 175,000 (combining Democrat and WFP lines)
Bloomberg - 155,000 (combining GOP and Independent lines)
(Remember, about 12,500 WFP votes that went to Bill Thompson in 2009 can’t go to Ken Thompson because the WFP line for DA is blank in 2013. Also, Joe Hynes has the Conservative Party line which can add up to 5000 to 8,000 votes, with 6500 to 7500 very possible with a real Conservative Party campaign . Also about 4,000 to 5,000 military and absentee ballots should favor the incumbent, Joe Hynes.)

I didn't say they were great, I said they weren't that bad. Don’t take my word for it, you play with the numbers from the 2009 Mayoral Election that follow:

Earlier, I mentioned that Mr. Hynes had to have the “Fire In His Belly” — he needs to show the folks that he really wants to continue serving as the Brooklyn DA. If he can show that he really does want it, his “Last Hurrah” will be far more favorable than Frank Skeffington’s. However, since there seem to be a few Jar Heads involved it probably should be pronounced — “Hoooo-rah !”

Joseph Lhota, Mike Long, Jerry Kassar and the Republican Party In Brooklyn — Joseph Lhota, Mike Long, Jerry Kassar and the New York Conservative Party — Why those people, places and things just don’t belong together

Sometimes things jump out as not part of a clear or well known pattern, or for some other reason things are just not being consistent with what has gone before, or certain things just plain do not feel or seem to be right. The persons and political entities mentioned above are like that — something or somebody just doesn’t fit or belong there. Now, also look at the next paragraph and see if you agree that something isn’t right with what’s going on or being said there, either.

On primary night, a report in AM New York had this to say about Lhota’s prospects as seen by the NYS Conservative Party Chairman, “...Mike Long, head of the Conservative party, which endorsed Lhota in June, said he can beat the Democratic nominee in the general election by distinguishing himself as the candidate who would continue the crime-fighting, economy-stimulating successes of the past quarter century under Giuliani and Bloomberg. *** ‘This is about going back to the old policies of the ’70s and the early ’80s or continued movement forward in job growth in economic growth and keeping people safe and improving on education,’ Long said.” (See “Joe Lhota defeats John Catsimatidis to win Republican mayoral nomination” by AM New York with Sheila Anne Feeney and Jo Napolitano, 9/10/13, AMNY [http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/joe-lhota-defeats-john-catsimatidis-to-win-republican-mayoral-nomination-1.6050380]). Everybody knows what Mike Long really thought and did about Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg each and every time the were candidates over the last six elections — starting in 1989, Mike Long and the Conservative Party consistently did not support either Giuliani and/or Bloomberg.

I put it to you, that something is very rotten here. Is Mike Long suddenly praising Mike Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani for their successes over the last quarter century ? What’s more, is Mike Long the kind of political leader who you would expect to be telling his followers that the election of Lhota would continue certain aspects of the “successes of the past quarter century under Giuliani and Bloomberg”? CERTAINLY NOT !

Is all of that stuff really coming from the person that AM New York described as “Mike Long, head of the Conservative party” ? The short answer is “YES IT IS.” Not so short are the answers to the questions: “Why is Mike Long saying such things”; and “Why is he saying them now ?”

Conservative Mike Long publically signaled his potential support for libertarian Republican Joseph Lhota, who unequivocally supports gay marriage and legalized marijuana, as early as December 2012 (See “Conservative Party Leader Mike Long Wants Joseph Lhota To Run For NYC Mayor” by Kenneth Lovett, 12/10/12, Daily News/ Daily Politics [http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2012/12/conservative-party-leader-mike-long-wants-joseph-lhota-to-run-for-nyc-mayor]). That support became etched in stone when Mike Long and the Conservative Party endorsed Lhota early in June 2013 ( See “Conservative Party Endorses Lhota for Mayor” by Kate Taylor, 6/3/13, NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/nyregion/conservative-party-endorses-lhota-for-mayor.html?_r=0]; see also “New York Conservatives Endorse Joe Lhota their Glimmer of Hope” by Dana Rubenstein, 6/3/13, This is How New York Works/Capital [http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2013/06/8530623/new-york-conservatives-endorse-joe-lhota-their-glimmer-hope]). According to the NY Times report, Mike Long acknowledged that the Conservative Party had disagreements with Lhota on several social issues, including same-sex marriage. But the Times also noted that Long said this election was about the city’s future and was too important to focus on just those issues. For Mike Long, that was a bigger change than the man from Tarsus had when he was knocked down on the Road to Damascus.

It wasn’t just Chairman Mike Long that had converted from his long-held Conservative Party’s traditional obstructionist stance when it came to supporting liberal, progressive or libertarian Republicans. Jerry Kassar, the Conservative Party’s Kings County Chairman, said this in his weekly column, “The Brooklyn Conservative Party’s leadership had been given many opportunities in the past several months to spend time with Mr. Lhota at both events and meetings to discuss issues. When polled, the Executive Committee unanimously recommended to the State Party the endorsement.” ( See “JERRY KASSAR'S ‘COMMON SENSE’ – JOE LHOTA FOR MAYOR” by Jerry Kassar, 6/11/13, Home Reporter/Spectator [http://www.homereporternews.com/opinion/jerry-kassar-s-common-sense/article_5b7a0160-d2d0-11e2-ae12-0019bb2963f4.html]). What Kassar didn’t tell everybody was that Lhota’s endorsement had been a “done deal” long before June 2013, and as part of that arrangement, Lhota had been featured at several Conservative Party events long before the Long and Kassar endorsements. The only thing not known is what the “deal” part of that “done deal” arrangement might have been.

It has been well reported on this blog that Conservative Party operators have been an intrinsic part of the State Senator Martin Golden – “Republicans for Change” insurgency in Brooklyn in 2013. That included a joint petitioning effort with the “Joe Lhota for Mayor” campaign. It’s also been reported that those Marty Golden insurgents have put the word out that Mr. Lhota favors Tim Cochrane, the RFC candidate for Kings County Republican Chairman. Part and parcel of all of it was that Kassar and other conservatives were involved in various aspects of the GOP petitioning and primary campaigning for Lhota and many of the RFC committee candidates. Although it has not yet been proven, it is difficult to conclude otherwise than that all of the petitioning and pre-primary “Republicans for Change,” Conservative party members, and Lhota Campaign interactions were all part of some common plan or scheme that included the Conservative endorsements of Lhota.

Because certain things could not readily be brought up in the context of the City-wide GOP Primary campaign for mayor, John Catsimatidis was never able raise the issue or question Joseph Lhota about any of his dealings to obtain his unusual Conservative Party endorsements by Long and Kassar. The more diverse general election voting public and the scrutiny of the City-wide media will almost certainly be making inquiry into Mr. Lhota’s alliance with the Conservative Party, as well as any compromises that might have been agreed to as part of the arrangements necessary to get the Conservative Party line and the lockstep endorsement of the Conservative Party leaders.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Much like the solution to the Sudeten-Czech Crisis of 1938, opposing world leaders have settled a thorny dispute against the backdrop of unsheathed arms and the threat of war — The deal that Neville Chamberlain and the ministers of his allies made with Hitler and Germany over Czechoslovakia was better and more justified by contemporary realities than the Syria deal with Russia, brokered in recent days by Secretary of State John Kerry and coolly embraced by President Obama.

On September 30th 1938 Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain emerged at Heston, England from his second airplane trip in two weeks and said this: “...the settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace. This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine. Some of you, perhaps, have already heard what it contains but I would just like to read it to you: ' ... We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again.' ” A little later that day, the same man stood in front of his residence at 10 Downing Street and made a few short remarks including the following fateful and historically ironic words: “My good friends, for the second time in our history a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.”

Do you remember how that all turned out ?

Enough about THEN, what about NOW ?

According to multiple outlets, the “Syria Crisis” has been averted as a result of diplomacy driven by the threat of the use of arms by the United States against Syria. The New York Times reports, “The United States and Russia reached a sweeping agreement on Saturday that called for Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons to be removed or destroyed by the middle of 2014 and indefinitely stalled the prospect of American airstrikes. *** The joint announcement, on the third day of intensive talks in Geneva, also set the stage for one of the most challenging undertakings in the history of arms control...” (See “U.S. and Russia Reach Deal to Destroy Syria’s Chemical Arms” by Michael R. Gordon, 9/15/13, NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/world/middleeast/syria-talks.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0]). According to the Times, “Speaking at a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry said that “if fully implemented, this framework can provide greater protection and security to the world.”

Neville Chamberlain couldn’t have said it any better — And the Syrian people have been no less betrayed by the deal to save them and avoid war now, than the Czechs and Slovaks were 75 years ago.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

By now, Joe Lhota and Marty Golden must be thinking that the only thing missing on this “Friday the 13th” is Jason Voorhees — Somebody says that Marty Golden is making phone calls and quoting Lhota and Guiliani to vote for Timothy Cochrane for Chairman of the Kings County GOP

My “Friday the 13th” began with a call from one of my Baker Street Irregulars calling to say that State Senator Marty Golden had called one of the active members of the Brooklyn GOP to talk — things went down hill very fast after that. Some calls to my usual sources showed that MG had made a few calls around since the primary.

I waited around through the mid afternoon, because I had been promised a great lead on a Joe Lhota– Brooklyn GOP item; however, that didn’t come through. Instead, another of the Baker Streeters called with word of another sighting of the Great White Whale — this time in the form of a Marty Golden phone call with a direct solicitation to vote for Timothy Cochrane as County Leader at the upcoming GOP County Convention. In that phone call, State Senator Martin Golden was quoted as saying a vote for Cochrane should be forthcoming by that delegate to the convention, because that’s what Joe Lhota and Rudy Giuliani wanted the Brooklyn delegates to do. I posted some comments about all this below (in comments to my Friday the 13th post, "Did you get your call from State Senator Martin Golden yet?" ), and I said I’d try to get to the bottom of it.

Since that call had come from one of my more prolific and reliable Baker Street Irregulars, and I expected both pushback and blowback form various sources, I followed-up and emailed the Lhota campaign for confirmation. After several hours waiting, I have gotten no response. Well, there’s always tomorrow... oops it is tomorrow, Saturday the 14th — but isn't that the thirteenth hour and yet another configuration of "Friday the 13th" !

Friday, September 13, 2013

Why is Marty Golden making surprise personal phone calls since primary day to probable non-supporters? --- Is it to sit down and talk ? OR Is it all just talk ?

Since primary day it looks like my state senator has been burning up the phone lines to several of my political friends and associates.

The phenomenon is interesting for several reasons. First and foremost, these calls are quite surprising based on the immediate history of the relationship between State Senator Golden and the recipients of the calls; and they weren't expected when they came. Second, (with the exception of what I'm mentioning as a "Third" item of interest) the pattern of who has received these Golden calls, and who has not, does not immediately reveal a consistent strategy or motivation, although it is probably too early in the game to be looking for such a pattern. Third, as a preliminary observation, the people to whom Marty Golden has reached out and touched by phone are on a list of my longer-time special friends; whereas, with one or two exceptions, those who have not received similar calls are much more recent special friends of mine.

It's also notable that at least two of my longer term friends and associates, who did receive surprise calls from Golden, also had significant successes inside their Brooklyn bailiwicks on primary day, both of whose bailiwicks contain larger or smaller swaths of State Senator Golden's district.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Some day I might be able to support Republican nominee Joe Lhota for Mayor of the City of New York. HOWEVER, as a simple, virtuous and self-reliant Brooklyn Republican, the way things are going I doubt that it will be any time in 2013

According to various news outlets the new Republican nominee Joe Lhota said at his victory party in Manhattan late Tuesday that "It is time to unify our party, strengthen it and prepare it for victory in November...." (See “Lhota Wins Republican Primary for Mayor” by Erica Orden, 9/11/13, Wall Street Journal [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324094704579067420739092730.html?mod=WSJ_NY_MIDDLETopStories]); see also “Joe Lhota Vows to ‘Unify Our Party’ After Bruising Primary” by Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke, 9/11/13, NY Observer/Politicker [http://politicker.com/2013/09/joe-lhota-vows-to-unify-our-party-after-bruising-primary/]).

Some might think that’s mighty odd talk from somebody who has not yet made any attempt to unify the Brooklyn Republican Party behind its current leadership team. In fact it’s quite the contrary, Joe Lhota has been participating with a group that has been committed to ripping apart the Brooklyn GOP in advance of the November mayoral election. Also it’s very odd talk from somebody who is far from a consensus GOP candidate based on Tuesday’s primary result. For the record, Mr. Lhota was rejected by a majority of Brooklyn’s 2013 Republican Primary voters, and he came in second to John Catsimatidis in Staten Island.

Let’s stick to Brooklyn, though. Several months ago, Mr. Lhota was speaking to a small group of Republican activists in Brooklyn. I am informed that one of the things he made a commitment to at that time was that he intended to follow through on a complete overhaul of the Republican Party regardless of how the mayoral race came out. Since that time, Mr. Lhota has pursued that goal in Brooklyn by way of close alliances with State Senator Martin Golden and an insurgent faction inside the Brooklyn GOP called “Republicans for Change.”

Maybe, Tuesday’s primary result has awakened Mr. Lhota to the realization that he might not have been put on a path to victory by his pre-primary chosen allies in Brooklyn, but rather that he has been led down the garden path. If Joe Lhota doesn’t see all of that clearly now, then he probably also doesn’t realize is that he is standing in the middle of a five ring circus of simple Republican virtue and self-reliance that is the part of the Brooklyn GOP, which wants nothing to do with State Senator Marty Golden or his co-conspirators, the inaptly named “Republicans for Change.” Furthermore, although I don’t speak for any particular group of Brooklyn Republicans, I think it’s fair to say that some, if not all, of those simple, virtuous and self-reliant Brooklyn Republicans will not want any part of any Lhota campaign for mayor, unless and until he shows some timely and proper amends for his ill-chosen alliances with Golden and the “Republicans for Change.”

I know of at least one group of Republicans and social conservatives that’s ready to go with a real social conservative, Erick Salgado, if he pushes forward on a third party line. That might be worth looking into.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

No Bang — No Bucks — No Chance ! The Republican Primary for Mayor was a frenetic farcical affair showing all the world everything that is wrong with the GOP in New York City — three candidates solidly from the RINO wing of the party fighting overly hard to get TEA PARTY voters, as well as routine right-leaning Republicans

In the GOP Mayoral Race — Joe Lhota is celebrating a better than 50% victory, but though not wounded, he is likely warn down, with a long way to go to November. John Catsimatidis seemed shaken, and he was not prepared to announce what he intended to do next. Ol’ Mc Donald seemed like a nice man; but “Dag nabbit...!” he doesn’t seem to be any better as a candidate for mayor than he was as a speller of the word “COW” ( “...EIEIO”)

In the Brooklyn GOP — the Golden-RFC-Lhota tri-fecta is still viable, but has yet to show that it is ready to thrive: Golden looks like he’s still got it with most Republicans in Bay Ridge; “Republicans for Change” are in the hunt and looking strong headed towards the convention; and Lhota, celebrating a better than a 50% victory, came through the GOP primary in okay shape.

After the Big Cats' defeat, the Kings County Republican Organization of County Leader Eaton is now in need of intensive care; the big question is whether he can rally the troops for the County Convention, or is all that’s left going to be a “Last Hoorah” for Craig ?

“Republicans for Change” do look like they took at least one very big hit. In the 46th AD — the team of Lucretia Regina-Potter and Marcus Nussbaum, supported by the LaGuardia Club and a new independent coalition of Brighton Beach Republicans, as well as some key support by Eaton’s KCRP, may well have unseated the long-time GOP leadership in the Bay Ridge/ Dyker Heights section of the 46th AD of Clorinada Annarummo and the Seergy Club. Unverified reports of the State Committee Races in the 46th indicate the following results:

Monday, September 9, 2013

Massive Conservative Party threat to the GOP: "THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY COMEBACK OF 'CRAZY CARL PALADINO' — AS THREATENED BY MIKE LONG EDITION"

Any genuine Republican, who has even the slightest hope of New York ever being one of those RED states on some election night in the future should be WHITE with rage after seeing what Mike Long, Chairman of the New York State Conservative Party, is thinking about, AND that it would certainly result in New York being forever a true BLUE Democrat bastion.

Basically, in today's Daily News, Kenneth Lovett reports that the “Controversial Buffalo Republican Carl Paladino may challenge Cuomo for governor again next year, on the Conservative Party line. [And h]is candidacy may pave the way for the Conservative Party to challenge the GOP's status as the state's second largest party.” (See “Conservative Party open to 'Crazy Carl' Paladino running for governor in 2014” by Kenneth Lovett, 9/9/13, NY Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/conservative-party-open-paladino-running-govenor-article-1.1449465]).

You judge whether Long and the Conservatives want to dominate the NYS Republican Party, blackmail them or just have their jollies threatening the GOP, when Long is reportedly putting it right out there, like this: “Long, like Paladino, would prefer to team with the Republicans on a candidate to take on Cuomo, rather than split the field. But [Long] added: ‘I would not be opposed to having an independent candidate like Carl Paladino’ on the Conservative line. That would open the door, for the first time since 1990, to the Conservatives going it alone and threatening the GOP’s No. 2 status and the patronage that comes with it.”

I have repeatedly warned about what looks like the current Kings County Conservative Party's raid on the Brooklyn GOP led by its cat’s paw State Senator Martin Golden by means of his RINO acolytes and toadies running as the false-flagged “Republicans for Change.” Any real thinking Republican should read the article mentioned and cited above in today’s NY Daily News to see that it all could very well be part of a bigger plan and bigger threat against the NYS Republican Party — a re-opened threat by the Conservatives to make the Republican Party one of the field of also ran “Third Parties” in New York State.

Biggest battle is in the 46th AD and includes Marty Golden’s personal mail and Marty Golden’s robo-calls against the candidates of the LaGuardia Republican Organization — Now and forever, State Senator Martin Golden owns the “Republicans for Change” effort in the 46th AD for 2013 and going forward

To counter Golden, Annarummo and Sarta, 46th AD Candidates Regina-Potter and Nussbaum continue door-to-door direct contacts with GOP voters, including last minute efforts in the heart of Bay Ridge

As recently as Saturday evening, the 46th AD campaign of Lucretia Regina-Potter and Marcus Aurelius Nussbaum included their personal distribution of their own literature to Republicans’ households, both apartments and homes, in the Shore Road, Narrows Avenue and Colonial Road area of Bay Ridge near Fort Hamilton HS. When they actually meet with Republican voters at their homes, they openly converse about many of the issues that separated them from their opponents, Annarummo and Sarta, and when pressed, they speak frankly and critically about State Senator Golden and what they believe that he has done to the Brooklyn Republican Party. They are not bashful to tell that they are the new kids on the block, and why that’s a good thing.

For their part, Golden, Annarummo and Sarta have been working together for at least two or three years to improve State Senator Golden’s footprint throughout bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and lower Bensonhurst, especially including participating in various feel-good neighborhood holiday events (See e.g., “Santa’s helpers come to Cannonball Park” by Denise Romano, 12/15/11, Home Reporter/ Brooklyn Spectator [http://www.homereporternews.com/news/general/santa-s-helpers-come-to-cannonball-park/article_58a6cfbe-275e-11e1-bc61-0019bb2963f4.html]; also “Crowds Enjoy Christmas Village at Cannonball Park, Stuff Schoolbus With Toys” by 12/16/10, Bay Ridge/Brooklyn Eagle [50.56.218.160/archive/category.php?category_id=31&id=40186?]). And perhaps more important, the Golden-Sarta-Annarummo cabal has been taking potshots at LaGuardia Club stalwarts Lucretia Potter and Arnaldo Ferraro — trying and failing to take them out of their leadership posts in the 49th AD for many years (See e.g., “Despite Establishment’s “Atlas Hate Mailer,” Regina-Potter Retains Leadership As GOP Cabal Candidates Flop” by “John Galt”
9/15/11, Atlas Shrugs in Brooklyn [With Commments] [http://atlasshrugsinbrooklyn.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/despite-lies-and-atlas-mailer-regina-potter-retains-leadership-as-establishment-candidates-flop/]).

The same bunch are now trying to weld together an armor-plated juggernaut of targeted mail from Senator Golden and Clorinda Annarummo along with robo-calls from Golden (with a mention of something from Congressman Michael Grimm), all in a effort to push the Annarummo- Sarta team across the finish line on their home turf. The letter from Clorinda A. shows what a heavy lift that probably is. Clorinda is trying to pitch her past work as “leader” in the 46th AD as demonstrative of her efforts on behalf of Marty Golden and Michael Grimm, and the GOP generally by showing off the Golden and Grimm endorsements as proof of her effectiveness. Annarummo also wants everybody to believe her work for the GOP has led to diversity, because of her message of outreach and inclusion. What Clorinda Annarummo doesn’t mention is how she needs local Democrats to help her fill GOP Board slots and that her petitioning and vote totals for Golden and Grimm have been dropping like stones into a well. Not one to only toot her own horn, Clorinda takes pains to MENTION Sarta’s name deep into her letter (if memory serves, it’s somewhere on page two).

What remains to be seen is who will prevail in the State Committee and County Committee contests inside the new boundaries of the 46th AD. The races outside the 46th AD appear to be isolated, hit and miss affairs. There are reports of a letter from Marty Golden targeted for specific County Committee candidates in the 49th AD. Attempts to verify other RFC out reach is ongoing.

What Kassar is really saying is that — “SOME PEOPLE THINK — Lhota is going to win — AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANT YOU TO THINK TOO ”

So why the convolutions and circumlocutions by Kassar going into the 2013 Republican Party Primary ? It’s all part of the bigger convulsive CONSERVATIVE PARTY RAID ON THE GOP that is ongoing in Brooklyn under cover of the Lhota Campaign and Marty Golden’s “Republicans for Change” Leadership fight

Kassar’s lead paragraph in his most recent “Common Sense” column, “Recent public polling as well private polling and canvasses I have been given access to in my capacity as chairperson of the Kings County Conservative Party would indicate that Joe Lhota is going to win big in the Republican primary. As they say, and it is true, the only poll that counts is on Election Day, but nevertheless the evidence seems to be mounting.” is a faux testimonial and fundamentally bad journalism (See “Common Sense: Joe Lhota” by Jerry Kassar, 9/4/13, Home Reporter/Brooklyn Spectator
[http://www.homereporternews.com/opinion/columnists/common-sense-joe-lhota/article_29e822ce-159e-11e3-88d2-001a4bcf887a.html]). The rest of the column extols Lhota and criticizes John Catsimatidis. Kassar's main pitch is that Joseph Lhota will be “Ready On Day One.” What Kassar doesn't mention is that Joe Lhota is a lifetime bureaucrat, who can't win in November and will never be Mayor of the City of New York. More important, Kassar doesn't mention that Lhota is no kind of conservative Republican, especially on social issues.

In an ideal world, the NYS Conservative Party would never back an ultra-liberal, ultra-progressive Republican like Joe Lhota. Lhota is most liberal on social issues like gay marriage and the primacy of a woman’s right to choose over an infant’s right to life. In the real world, Mike Long recently said that such principles don’t matter in mayoral races; so Kassar’s Conservative Party is robo-calling Republicans in advance of the GOP primary, using the voices of such CP war horses as, State Chairman Mike Long and CP County Vice Chairperson Fran Vella Marone.

It doesn’t end there, either. Kassar’s boss on his day job, State Senator Martin Golden is also doing robo-calls for and “paid for” by Lhota. Needless, to say Golden is tight with the Conservatives in everything but program and policy (What el$e could it po$$ibly be?). So his backing of the ultra-liberal Republican Lhota won’t cause him any problems of conscience nor with his Conservative Party buddies. In fact, there is little doubt that all of this is any less coordinated than a well practiced close-order drill on the main parade deck.

All this lockstep marching by the Conservatives and their sycophants to a strangely different drummer is so like the pre-war lockstep turns by Joseph Stalin’s Commintern that it sends shivers up my spine. One has to wonder if the NYSCP has fallen victim of a collective Vulcan mind meld by what’s left of the CPUSA. Up to now, I always thought that Mike Long’s admiration and envy of the left only went as far as green-eyed glances at Ray Harding in full uniform; I’d have thought Mike was too young to be enthralled by dear “Uncle Joe” looking down at the all the T-34 and KV tanks going by.

All the Conservative bigs calling Republicans to tell them how vote in a Republican Primary, along with a local effort in Brooklyn by a Conservative Party agent like Marty Golden to undermine the Republican Party leadership in Brooklyn, so stinks of intra-party raiding and interference in GOP internal affairs that something needs to be done. It’s long past the time that it all should be investigated by the Feds to see if any of it violates the consent decree entered against the Conservative Party in Federal Court the last time something like this was tried against the GOP on this scale.

Friday, September 6, 2013

But, then his spox said something like this: “Oops ! That’s not what we meant at all....”

So here’s the deal. You read it; and then you can tell me —

“Today, I decided to withdraw my support from President Obama’s proposal for a military strike against Syria. I have heard from many of you in Staten Island and Brooklyn, and it is clear to me that their is strong opposition to the strike. As your voice in Washington, I will continue to listen and take a stand for you.

Will you stand with me in opposing President Obama’s plan with a donation of $25 or more right now?

When President Obama first announced his plan for strikes against the Syrian government for its alleged use of chemical weapons, my first reaction as a Marine combat veteran was to support immediate, targeted strikes. I now believe that the opportunity for such action has passed.President Obama has failed to show strength at this critical moment in time. While the debate in Congress continues, our nation’s credibility grows weaker and weaker. After much deliberation and prayer, I have decided to withdraw my support. I do not feel that our country has enough to gain by moving forward with this attack.

Stand with me today with a donation of $25 or more to strongly oppose military action in Syria.

Thank you for your support,

Michael Grimm”

— From Congressman Michael Grimm Email

The Grimm camp has unequivocally stated that the email was intended to be sent out only to inform the congressman’s supporters of the Grimm’s change of heart, but that a third party vendor/contractor, which also handles Grimm’s fund raising, added the fundraising link on its own ( See “Grimm Email Raises Money Off Syria Opposition” by Michael Scotto, 9/6/13, YNN State of Politics [http://nystateofpolitics.com/2013/09/grimm-email-raises-money-off-syria-opposition/]).

According to the report, “ 'An email blast that went out to supporters of Rep. Michael Grimm last night sought to raise money off the Congressman’s decision to change his mind and oppose military action in Syria.... [However, t]he email was intended to be a message to supporters informing them of the congressman’s withdrawal of support for a strike on Syria,' said Grimm spokeswoman Carol Danko. 'The dollar ask was included automatically by the vendor, and was never approved by the congressman. He is furious over this inappropriate inclusion and has taken appropriate actions to ensure that this careless error never happens again.' ”

Full-scale battle in 46th AD will include face-to-face, mail and phones through the weekend and up to Primary Day

Recent inputs from multiple sources indicate that outside the 46th AD, with a hand full of exceptions involving relatively few possible CC delegates, the main thrusts of the KCRP and “Republicans for Change” are shifting to post-primary tactics and strategies in preparation for a “last stand” or “final victory” at the 2013 GOP County Convention. Some of my inputs are clearly intentional, and in some cases tailored, outputs from the competing sides with the purpose of spinning what appears here — that doesn’t make those particular output-inputs false or meaningless.

Part of the RFC pitch continues to be on message with “...it’s all locked up.” BUT, the recent gopher-popup of a NY State Senator calling to make a variety of personal pitches, some aimed at the primary, and others focused post-primary at the convention, shows at least a little internal tug-o-war. Weather that is merely the result of very complex and detailed targeting, the competing demands inside a fractious RFC coalition, or is indicative of some other confusion of unknown etiology is not at all clear at this time.

Some outside the “Republicans for Change” ambit are trying to pitch the line that the Golden insertion this early in the game shows desperation. However, almost everybody that have said that also say or have said that some level of Golden’s participation in the primary and convention had been expected all along.

A more likely explanation of the Golden pop-up, with his manning the phones at this time, is that it shows a cautious strategy of leaving nothing to chance. Whether the live calls by the State Senator are something that was long-ago planned or something more of more recent motivation is not the relevant inquiry. The only important questions now are these: 1) whether the Golden phone calls have an immediate positive effect for his side; 2) whether there will be a price to be paid by Golden for this level of participation; and 3) whether, after evaluating “1” and “2 ” it’s all worth it for Marty Golden going forward. My guess is that, for now, the answer to those would be “Yes” - “Maybe” and “Yes” — Or else, how would one explain why would Golden have done it ?

Given a series of significant reverses at the BOE and in various courts, the Brooklyn Republican establishment standing behind the current GOP County Leader Craig Eaton are pulling back from a major fight for new delegates. Instead, there will be a focus on the post-primary shepherding their own flock, while influencing the “RFC” folks with various types of informational mailings and calls leading up to the convention, which probably can’t even be scheduled until the delegate races have been certified by the BOE. Some have advocated that approach from the beginning; but with the loss of so many otherwise “uncontested” potential delegates, how can playing a mostly-defensive kind of game win, when the other side looks to have more delegates coming out of the primary and going toward the Republican County Convention ?

Of course, the exception to that is inside the 46th AD where everybody will be “All In” in an all-out primary battle for State and County Committee, because there really is no other way for them to go. Whether there will be any additional outside-in influence in the last days before the primary in any of the 46th AD races is not yet known. With half of the County Committee delegation in hand, the La Guardia Republican Organization has prepared a series of mailings and robo-calls to compliment a door-to-door campaign in key EDs in the 46th AD, including a few in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. The unifying theme in the 46th AD is the election of the new leadership team in the 46th AD of Nussbaum and Potter that will provide diversity and a revitalization of the GOP in Southwest Brooklyn.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Catsimatidis tells Lhota something like, “You have no money and nobody’s giving you any, so it’s time to bow out...” — then to really let Lhota know where he stands with a lot of Republican voters, Catsimatidis put out an ad whose theme is “You’re no Rudy Giuliani. It’s not even close !”

Here was the big one-two punch from the “Big Cats”: According to Celeste Katz, obviously without my corn pone coating, “The battle for the Republican mayoral nomination is heating up as John Catsimatidis prepares to launch TV and radio ads accusing his rival Joe Lhota of riding the coattails of his old boss, Rudy Giuliani” (See “EXCLUSIVE: John Catsimatidis set to launch ad campaign saying 'Joe Lhota is no Rudy Giuliani' ” by Celeste Katz, 9/3/13, Daily News/Daily Politics [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/catsimatidis-launch-ads-lhota-giuliani-article-1]).

That followed closely on the tail of Catsimatidis stating, actually re-stating, the obvious — Lhota doesn’t have the resources to wage a competitive campaign (See “CAT FIGHT – John Catsimatidis Explains Why He Asked Joe Lhota to Exit Mayor’s Race” by Ross Barkan, 9/2/13, NY Observer/Politicker [http://politicker.com/2013/09/john-catsimatidis-explains-why-he-asked-joe-lhota-to-exit-mayors-race/]). According to Mr. Barkan’s report, “Former MTA Chair Joe Lhota has led each and every poll surveying the mayoral race’s GOP primary. Yet late Friday night, rival John Catsimatidis called on Mr. Lhota to ‘end this charade [and] drop out of the race now.’ ***
Needless to say, Mr. Lhota did not heed Mr. Catsimatidis’s call, which was prompted by a modest fund-raising filing. But Mr. Catsimatidis, a billionaire who is self-financing his campaign, still repeated his call today. *** ‘The whole thing is, with $157,000 for the whole month of August, where the hell are you going? Where are you going?’ Mr. Catsimatidis pressed when asked about the remarks while greeting voters at a kosher supermarket in Brooklyn, which was buzzing with shoppers preparing for Rosh Hashana. ‘If he beats me, where is he going? What happens is he turns over the entire city to the Democrats because he doesn’t have a chance in hell in November’.”

However, the biggest punch into Joe Lhota’s labanza came today from Democrat Bill de Blasio in the form of a great polling result from a recent Q-poll, indicating that Bill De Blasio might be running away with the Democratic Primary, and probably not be facing a run-off (See “Bill De Blasio Has Taken A Gigantic Lead In The New York City Mayor's Race” by Brett Logiurato, 9/3/13, Business Insider
[http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-de-blasio-nyc-mayor-poll-christine-quinn-bill-thompson-43-2013-9]; see also “New poll shows de Blasio avoiding runoff vote - has 43% of vote” 9/3/13, NY Post [http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/new_poll_shows_vote_blasio_avoiding_LL6AJHulpuuX9Ez2V6uzwL]). If this polling result plays out, Bill De Blasio will be able to crucify liberal Republican Joe Lhota with Mike Long and the whole Conservatives Party platform for a solid two months, and Lhota will have no campaign worth talking about to counter it.

About Me

I formerly have commented on various political blogs concerning Republican politics. Although the focus of my political commentary has been on the Brooklyn GOP and other aspects of politics in Brooklyn, I have also posted commentary about national matters.
If you wish to contact Galewyn Massey directly, please, Email to galewynmasban@gmail.com